


Not a Bad Little Life

by patchfire, raving_liberal



Series: Story of Three Boys [72]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-08
Updated: 2012-08-08
Packaged: 2017-11-11 17:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/480942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchfire/pseuds/patchfire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/raving_liberal/pseuds/raving_liberal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn settles in at the University of Wisconsin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Bad Little Life

The first week in Wisconsin passes in a blur. Finn still works out every day, just like he has all summer, and that becomes the baseline. Everything else is different, new, and strange, but this, at least, he’s already got figured out. The workouts are like some kind of anchor that still ties him to home, because he worked out at home, and he works out in Wisconsin. Everything else is different, but that, at least, is the same.

They don’t call him or text him the first week he’s in Wisconsin, and he doesn’t call or text them. What could he say to them, really? He’ll settle in, and they’ll settle in, and then, maybe. Maybe he’ll be able to figure out things to say to them that don’t sound like lies; anything he’d try to say to them right now that isn’t ‘I miss you’ and ‘I love you’ feels like lying. He can't be something holding them back from their new lives. He has to let them go. After all, his job is lifting the heavy stuff, and there's nothing that's ever felt heavier than this.

Finn meets with the academic advisor that first week, and they talk about the classes Finn’s going to take. The advisor asks him a few times if he’s sure, really sure, about these classes, but Finn lets him know that yeah, he’s sure. He has to do a learning style assessment thingy, which confirms that lectures and ‘repeat after me’ aren’t the best way in the world for him to learn; that might explain why he never did that great in Spanish class. Or that could just have been Schue.

The new Wisconsin players get to have a breakfast with the coaches. They do their workouts. They study the playbook. They get taken on tours of all the facilities they could ever possibly use and all the buildings they might ever possibly take classes in. For some reason, they play four square in the locker room on a taped–out court. They attend workshops on study skills. They talk to the athletic department liaison lady.

Finn talks to the athletic department liaison lady a _lot_. He talks to her about his scholarship stuff, and he goes back and talks to her about a parking pass for his truck, and he goes back again with a list of books he needs for his classes. When she looks at his book list, her eyebrows do a weird thing, and she looks up at him for a few seconds.

“Are you sure these are the right books, Mr. Hudson?” she finally asks.

“Yep!” Finn says, giving her the great big smile that he uses for waitresses and flight attendants, people whose job it is to take care of stuff for him and who probably deserve to be smiled at extra–nice. “Those are the books for the classes I’m taking.”

The liaison lady shakes her head at him, but she smiles, and she does whatever needs to be done with the forms for him to get his books. Things fall into a groove pretty fast after that, and it’s easier than Finn thought it would be, in a lot of ways. Even without regular class–classes running yet, he stays busy. He and Jamie and The Doug do their workouts together most days, and they go across campus and eat pizza at Ian’s, and he feels like he’s part of something again. 

It’s not a bad little life here in Madison. If he can just get a few things figured out, it might actually be a pretty good life for the next four years. He could be happy, or close enough to it.


End file.
